Handy Hints for a Visit from Santa to Your Corporate/Employee Party
By Tim Connaghhan, aka: National Santa
Thank you for selecting greenfieldsanta.com / The Santa Haus to supply Santa for your Holiday Event. To help you in making Santa’s visit a more enjoyable event, we have prepared the following list of suggestions.
- Have your photo area ready. It should have good lighting, especially for all of those camera phones. It makes the photos look better with brighter lighting. Be sure to clear your photo file on your phones so you have room for the Christmas Photos. Have those bigger camera/s ready, too. Be sure to have all the video cards, thumb drives, film, videotape and batteries necessary to take the photos you want, or need to get. Be sure all batteries are charged. P.S. Santa loves Selfies!
- Reserve a special parking place for Santa. It should be as close as possible to where he is visiting. Santa is a senior citizen and needs to park directly in front or next to the house or party location. He cannot park down the street or in a parking garage & hike to your location. He will be winded or exhausted, when he gets there. If at a home, a car could back down the driveway a little, leaving a space in front of the car. When Santa arrives, the host could pull the car up and Santa parks behind it. Or, put a temporary barrier in the space reserved for Santa. Use a box, a chair or a sawhorse. Have some fun; put a sign out “Reserved for Santa!” If your event is at a company facility, office building or hotel, try to make arrangements for Santa to park in a valet or loading area. This makes it easier for him to be fresh and ready to bring joy to your guests
- A host should meet Santa when he arrives: to assist him; show him where to park; to help load any presents into his special “Santa” bag; and to escort him to the location of the event. If there is a balance or payment due to Santa, this is a great time to take care of business. We prefer not to do business in front of the Children or other guests. It can ruin the magic of the moment. The host or coordinator meeting Santa outside should take care of any final payments that are due, before Santa enters.
- Welcoming the Guests is probably one of the best ways to use Santa at a corporate, or all-employee, event. Santa can be at the entrance to your event, just past your registration or check-in table. He can officially welcome everyone to the party and invite them to have a picture taken at that time. This is the best time to take photos of the employees and guests, as everyone is arriving is looking their best. Once the event gets going, the room will warm up and if there is dancing, it will really warm up. The men will start removing their jackets, hair-dos start to fall, etc. If you are not planning a photographer, Santa can still greet your guests, and some of them always have a camera or a camera phone.
- Have a sturdy chair for Santa to sit in. Folding chairs and low chairs (the one’s you sink into) are not good. Santa usually likes a chair that is sturdy and stable. A good straight-back dining chair, with no arms, works well. He should be able to sit comfortably and the chair needs to support him plus a person on each knee. And please no executive chairs with wheels!
- Place the Chair near your Christmas tree or in a holiday setting. Your photos will have more impact when the background has a festive look. Place a wreath, a few Christmas cards or your children’s drawings on the wall to make a wonderful difference. Leave a foot or two between the chair and the tree or wall. This will allow room for others to gather around and behind Santa’s chair for group photos. Fireplaces do look nice but remember putting Santa too close to a real fire is not good for his comfort or health!
- If Sant is to give out gifts, please have your gifts ready. Santa normally does not bring any candy canes or gifts with him. He will hand out your candy and gifts and can carry in one bag of presents for children or guests, about 40 pounds. Presents should be well labeled. We suggest a large black marking pen and writing directly on the gift, as tags can easily fall off. All packages should fit into one 35-gallon trash bag. He can transfer the gifts to his “official” Santa Bag when he meets with your greeter upon arrival. If you have more than one bag, check with Santa and see if there is a way to have the gifts near his chair before he arrives or if there is a way for you to have “helpers” to bring the extra gifts in, after he enters.
- One party option is to have Santa just mingle and visit tables, after all of the guests arrive. This can also be done if Santa has any time left in his visit to you. When mingling, he generally goes from table to table to say hello and to pose for group photos, etc.
- Think about photos with everyone. Yes, some adults might think it is too childish, to have a photo with Santa. Don’t worry; Santa can stand up for a “buddy” photo. What about the seniors attending the party? Take a photo with Santa and Grandma Hugging! And Santa can take group photos with all the ladies or a “Team” photo with the guys. And yes! Santa loves “Selfies!” More photos of Santa show up on Facebook than almost any other celebrity.
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